A Dark Night
by Fallenepiphany
Summary: RachelXBruce, one-shot, rating for language...has possibility to go on...R&R people


_**Summary**: Set during the Dark knight, right after Joker announces on person will die every night, Rachel is staying with Bruce as it's the safest..oneshot....Fluff, BruceXRachel...am thinking bout adding a lemon...O.o rating for language...  
**Disclaimer: **Not mine...(even though, I wouldn't mind Christain Bale;) )_

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"Master Wayne? Sir, are you awake?"

"I am now…what is it Alfred?" Bruce grunted into his pillow.

"Well Sir you asked me to wake you once Miss Davis had woken, and as I understand it she is not long out of the shower." Alfred frowned at his young Master, another late night, and from the bruises he could see, Alfred knew better than to ask.

Bruce pulled his head from the pillow, suddenly looking very alert "Has she been awake long?"

Alfred sighed "Well Sir, truth is, she discovered you missing last night and hasn't slept since, she's been very worried, though she does her best to hide it, I would strongly suggest a visit?" Alfred raised an eyebrow, and Bruce knew he was most definitely in the doghouse. Nodding he threw the covers back, "Thank you Alfred…I'll go see her now."

Alfred smiled grimly "Most welcome Sir, should you need me I'll be in the kitchen." With that, the old butler left.

Bruce ran his hand through his hair and sighed. Getting to his feet, he pulled on a pair of baggy sweats and headed upstairs.

The door to Rachel's room was closed, Bruce knocked gently.

"What is it Alfred?" Rachel called, her voice hoarse.

Bruce shuffled his feet and cleared his throat "It's me Rachel." He murmured.

There was a small gasp and the sound of someone running across the wooden floor in bare feet, the door swung open.

"Bruce!" Rachel threw herself into his arms, her hair still damp, fighting back tears "Are you alright? I saw the news. You're alright aren't you?" she managed to choke out.

Bruce closed his eyes tight, relishing in the feeling of Rachel in his arms "I'm fine, I was out with some of the board members." He lied.

Rachel pulled back; she glared at him "Don't think I'm stupid Bruce! I know exactly what you were doing!" she hissed.

Bruce blinked "Ok…look I'm sorry about the models, last time I swear!" he smiled at her.

Rachel's face fell, and turned angry "Bruce I haven't slept since nine o'clock last night because I was up worrying about you running around as that thing! The least you could do is admit I'm right!" she cried, tears forming in her eyes.

Bruce regarded her closely for a long moment, how did he ever think he would get around her?

"Rachel…I- I'm sorry." He reached out and took her hand "I was afraid of getting you caught up in all this."

Rachel stared at him, her eyes drifted to the purple bruises forming on his arms and chest her fingers traced a small one over his heart.

"Bruce…" she whimpered.

He watched her carefully "I'm sorry Rachel." He whispered.

Her soft fingers moved up along his chest, over his shoulder, up his neck and ran along his jaw. Their eyes locked. Rachel leaned in closer, a whisper separated their lips "Bruce you scared the shit out of me." She murmured, tearful eyes still locked with his.

"I'm sorry." He said again, Bruce leaned in closer, bridging the gap and pressed his lips to hers. Rachel's response was immediate, her arms clasped his neck, clinging to him. She kissed him back as hard as she could, giving every feeling she had ever had for Bruce Wayne in that one kiss. He moved her back, pressed her up against the wall, his tongue sought entrance into Rachel's mouth, and she opened willingly. Their tongues met and Bruce groaned into Rachel's mouth, her hands came down from his neck and ran down his bare chest. Pressed between Bruce and the wall of the hall, Rachel was in another world. She had wanted this since she was thirteen and he had been fifteen. There wasn't another on the planet that knew her the way Bruce did. They had grown up together. The kiss intensified and they both knew that there was no going back. They had broken the last barrier they had ever built.

"Master Wayne!"

Rachel pulled her lips from Bruce's with a gasp, but remained in his arms as Alfred came running up the stairs.

Bruce frowned seeing the look of terror in the man servants eyes "Alfred what is it?"

Alfred did not speak until he was beside them. "Sir, it's the Joker, he's named his next target, it's all over the news." He huffed, trying to catch his breath.

Bruce blinked and stared at the old butler "And? Who is it?"

Alfred sighed and scratched his head, looking from Bruce to Rachel.

"Alfred?" Bruce pressed.

"Sir…the Joker…he's after Rachel." Alfred said quietly.

Rachel gasped and Bruce's grip on her tightened.

"He says he'll take her…and unless the Batman can find her…he's going to…kill her." The butler explained.

Bruce's jaw locked tight and Rachel saw a muscle jump.

He looked at her for a long minute.

"Sir?"

They both looked at Alfred "From what I gathered, the Joker will be here soon."

Bruce grabbed Rachel's hand and tugged her along the hall after him.

"Alfred, this way." He called back over his shoulder.

"Bruce! Where are we going?" Rachel asked, her voice sounded so small. Bruce looked at her.

"The cave. I'm not going to let him take you." He told her, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

He brought them down to the end of the hall and pressed a hand against the wall in front of him. There was a hissing sound, and a door shaped part of the wall receded and opened, revealing an elevator. Bruce dragged Rachel in and Alfred followed, the door closed behind them and the elevator descended into darkness.

When it stopped lights switched on and showed the large underbelly of the mansion, Rachel gaped in awe.

Still holding her hand Bruce took Rachel from the elevator and over to a large set of screens. Each showing a different area of the house, and the surrounding grounds, Rachel's attention was drawn to the front of the house where a large yellow school bus was pulled up outside.

"Bruce." She whispered.

He looked at her and she pointed to the screen "He's already here."

Bruce made to take the suit from a nearby case, Rachel pulled him back.

"No!" she said sternly.

Bruce frowned, the scowled "What?!"

"Listen to me Bruce." Rachel said, her eyes beseeching.

Sighing Bruce waited.

"The Joker knows I'm here. He won't stop until he finds me. And if he finds this-" –she motioned to the bat cave- "-he's gonna know you're Batman! Then what Bruce? He'll kill you!"

"What do you want me to do!?" Bruce shouted.

"Let him have me! Then get yourself organized and come after him, as the Batman." She reasoned.

"NO!" Bruce roared, his eyes wild and scared, he turned to Alfred for back up, but the old butler shook his head.

"Master Wayne…she's right." Alfred murmured.

A half cry half snarl tore from Bruce's chest, pulling his hand from Rachel's he stalked off into a darkened corner. Rachel sighed and walked after him, he kept his back turned, unwilling to look at her.

"Bruce?" she whispered, so quietly that she knew only the two of them could hear. Rachel slid a hand onto his shoulder and held it there for a long minute until Bruce turned around, his face was half obscured by the darkness, but in the dim light, Rachel saw tears falling down his cheeks.

"Oh Bruce!" she threw her arms around his neck cradling his head in the dip of her shoulder. "Shh." She soothed "It'll be fine, I promise!"

"I- I can't loose you too!" he told her. And Rachel was reminded of the day of Bruce's parent's funeral. When she held his hand the whole day, never letting go, they even slept in the same bed that night.

Rachel pulled back, and looked him in the eye "Bruce, if you don't let me go you will loose me." She said sternly, but lovingly.

Bruce flinched, dropping his eyes to the floor.

"Bruce look at me." Rachel commanded.

It took him a minute but eventually he dragged his eyes up to meet hers. "Bruce. Everything will be fine, we'll get this fool, and then…" she trailed off.

"Then what?" Bruce asked.

"Then you and I can be the way we should be." Rachel leaned in to capture his lips once more. Bruce kissed back with a strong edge of desperation, as though he thought this was their last.

And then, it hit her. _This could very well be the last time she would see him. _Keeping control, she refused to let Bruce see her panic. When he pulled back, both were breathless.

"Alfred?"

"Yes Master Wayne?"

"Get the microphone on the desk, the smallest of them, and bring it here." Bruce asked quietly.

"Right away Sir."

They heard Alfred shuffle away and Bruce took Rachel back into the well-lit area. Alfred returned holding a tiny earring in his hand. Bruce took it, and gently swept back Rachel's hair, leaning in he placed the earring like thing behind the top of her ear.

"This little microphone, enables me to hear everything going on around you, and anything you say, it has a homing device built in." – Bruce paused – "Rachel…I swear I will come straight for you."

Rachel nodded, butterflies in her stomach, "I'll be fine, don't worry…" she forced a smile.

Alfred looked at the surveillance again and saw the goons leaving the school bus "Eh , Master Wayne...I think we best get moving with what ever plan you intend on using."

Bruce looked up and sighed, then looked at Rachel "Go." He whispered hoarsely.

Rachel nodded once and pressed her lips to his cheek before running to the elevator, keeping her eyes on Bruce as the elevator rose until he was gone from her sight.

She pushed through the hidden door and ran down the hall, her heart thumping wildly, she knew Bruce was probably watching the surveillance and cast a quick glance at one of the camera's, giving it a quick half hearted wink.

She hurried down two flights of stairs and she heard the Joker's voice down on the ground floor "Find the girl." He chided.

Swallowing hard, she leaned over the railing, looking down she saw four of his men, wearing clown masks.

"Joker." She called, her voice sounding far more confident then she felt.

The Joker jumped and looked up, grinning he began clapping his hands "Fun game! I win!" his eyes appraised her.

Rachel raised her hands in a surrender, and forced tears to fall from her eyes "P-please d-d-don't hurt m-me!" she whispered, just loud enough for them to hear.

The Joker's face changed to a look of mock concern.

_He's falling for it! _She thought happily.

"Aw my poor girl! Come down here at once! I didn't mean to frighten you, I'm not after you, I just want to draw out that horrible Batman. The you can come straight back here!" he smiled "You will help me won't you?" he pouted.

Rachel sniffed and nodded "Yes Sir." She promised, and began to descend the last flight of stairs. As soon as her foot hit the ground floor, two of the Joker's men, she hadn't seen these lurking either side of the stairwell, jumped on her and threw her to the ground.

She cried out in genuine pain and surprise as she crashed to the floor. They tied her up and one of them grabbed the back of her t-shirt and began to drag her outside. The rest, including the Joker followed, and laughed as she was thrown, roughly into the bus. The Joker grabbed her hair and pulled her head up, before pressing a stained cloth over Rachel's nose, she struggled, but in mere seconds she was unconscious on the floor of the bus.

******** "I don't know what happened!" Bruce growled, all he heard were muffled protests followed by a loud thump and the Joker's awful laugh crackling through the speakers.

Alfred sighed sadly and patted his back, bide your time Master Bruce. Everything will be fine." He assured him quietly.

Bruce grunted something inaudible and pulled on the Bat suit. He was going to be ready, as soon as he got his chance he was going to go as fast as he possibly could.

"Keep an eye on the television, just in case." He asked the butler.

"Of course Sir."

********

"Aw man…my head." Rachel grunted as she came too. Within seconds she discovered she was tied, and there was a blindfold over her eyes.

"Ah, sleeping beauty has decided to join us at last! He he he, a ho a he a ha!!" the Joker's sarcastic voice cut through her, followed by muffled laughter from somewhere else. She guessed there were about three henchmen.

"Too scared to face me alone?" she sneered.

The Joker's laugh was cut off "Sleeping Beauty likes a joke does she? Well that's good because you'll love this one!" his voice came closer as he spoke, Rachel resisted the urge to flinch away. She blinked in the bright light as her blindfold was ripped off. The Joker stood above her, grinning wickedly. She found herself in a large empty warehouse, a pungent smell attacked her nose.

_Petrol!_

She swallowed, the floor apart from a small circle around her was covered in liquid. Looking up she saw three other men with clown masks, holding petrol cans.

_He's gonna burn me alive!_ Her heart raced, but she forced a composed look on her face. Examining the warehouse she looked for any tell tale signs of where she was.

The she got one, outside she heard a seagulls faint call and the sound of a distant foghorn.

She was at the docks.

"You see how the floor is all wet?" Joker asked excitedly.

Rachel nodded once, not trusting her voice.

"Well I'm afraid my friends have spilled petrol all over the place!" – he pouted – "And you see that little skylight up there?" – The Joker pointed up to a tiny window no bigger than the size of a nickel on the roof- "Well ya see, I had the glass changed to magnify the suns rays, now in about and hour, the sun's gonna shine right through that hole and whoosh!!" he made and explosive gesture with his arms "This whole place becomes one big giant furnace." He smiled at her.

Rachel raised an eyebrow "That's it? You're just going to let me burn?" she asked, making her voice sound disappointed.

Joker scowled "Well unless the Batman gets here…and if he comes I've got a nasty plan for him, he. I've got two men on guard. Should our friend make an appearance they'll let him in, but they will thrown a match in after him!" Joker began to laugh.

Rachel blinked, praying Bruce was hearing this and that he wouldn't come.

"So-" she chose her words carefully talking to Bruce more than the Joker "Either way, I mean whether the Batman comes or not I'll die? His efforts would be useless?"

"That's right my girl, did anyone ever tell you that you are _smoking hot!_" he Joker burst into laughter. Rachel stared at him, not letting her fear show. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction.

"Well Miss Dawes it has been a pleasure, I would shake your hand but you seem a little hung up! Ha! We better be leaving, it's awfully warm in here, should our_ friend_ chose to come, tell him that Joker says "Toodles!" " laughing once more the Joker stalked out of the doors, men at his heel. Rachel inhaled sharply as the doors slammed shut.

She waited a long moment before speaking.

********Bruce's hands crashed onto the desk in fists. _**There must be a way in! **_he thought.

He froze as Rachel's voice came through the speakers.

"Bruce?" she called hoarsely.

"I'm not sure if you can hear me…I hope you can. If you heard Joker you know it would be stupid to come after me. There's no reason to get us both killed. I was wrong. I'm sorry. But you have to stay there ok? There's no way in that you won't be seen! Then the two of us will die! Please don't come Bruce…I don't want you to die too."

_Jesus Christ Rachel… _Bruce thought

But she wasn't done it was only when she spoke again that Bruce knew she was crying.

"And you know why I can't bear to see you get hurt Bruce? It's not because you're my best friend…it's because I love you Bruce. I always have, since we were teenagers and we played truth of dare and you kissed me, I've kept it down for all these years. But I just want you to know that at the end of it all, you are the only person I've ever loved. Not Harvey…just you."

Bruce stared at the speaker "Rachel…"he whispered "I love you too."

That was it. He jumped into the tumbler, the engine roared as he sped out of the waterfall.

********Rachel sighed, the fumes made her nauseous. Her vision was beginning to blur. _So this is it? _She asked herself. She had never given much thought to how she would die, but this certainly hadn't been the plan.

She knew she was nearly out of time, she guessed she had ten to fifteen minutes left. She knew Batman wouldn't come now. He would have gotten here sooner. She wondered had Bruce heard her at all. She wondered if he really knew how she felt.

********Bruce parked up the tumbler in his container and ran, he climbed onto her roofs and following his homing device he crossed a few roofs.

He stopped a roof away from where the device told him Rachel was. Turning on his heat sensors, Bruce could only see Rachel…the Jokers men must have left. He also saw that a small part of the floor around Rachel was colder than the rest.

Which meant there was no petrol there. Bruce knew what to do.

********Rachel was falling in and out of consciousness. A loud bang from above and a sudden heat woke her.

"Rachel!" Batman roared over the blazing inferno.

Rachel groaned, the heat was unbearable. There was another loud bang and the heat vanished. It was replaced with a cold smothering substance, Rachel fought against the arms restraining her as they dragged her downwards. She barely heard the massive explosion above her, but felt it's effects, a sharp pressure cut through her, making her gasp for air that wasn't there. Icy water crashed into her lungs, she tried to scream, blackness was overpowering her.

"Rachel!" Bruce cried with the first gulp of air he took once the broke the surface. Her head lolled to one side, using one arm to support her and the other to swim, Bruce headed for the nearest land.

He didn't revive her there, she still had a pulse, how ever weak it was. He carried her to the tumbler, and shut the container door behind him. Flicking on the light he placed Rachel across the bonnet of the Tumbler and took off his helmet.

"Rachel?" He felt for a pulse.

There was none.

"Rachel!" Bruce roared. He leaned over her and started compressions. "Come on!" he cried before crushing his mouth to hers and breathing into her, Rachel responded almost right away. She coughed heavily and spat out the remained water in her lungs. Her eyes rolled back in her head as she tried to focus.

Bruce sighed in relief.

"Rachel can you hear me?" he asked quietly.

"I distinctly remember telling you not to come." Rachel's voice was hoarse. Bruce chuckled "Did you really think I would listen?"

"Not really…so you heard me?" Rachel sat up slowly, everything started to come back to her. The haze in her mind started to clear.

"Yes, well up until you told me you loved me." Bruce admitted.

Rachel's eyes widened. So he had heard that.

"Oh…" was all she managed, she stared down at her wet converse as they hung over the side of the tumbler.

Bruce placed an arm either side of her. She looked up into Bruce's deep brown eyes.

"Rachel?" the way he said her name made her shiver, more than the cold.

"Yes?" she asked breathless.

Bruce leaned in, his lips brushed her ear "I love you too." His voice was husky. Rachel's small hands gripped his arms for support. She thought she was going to pass out.

Leaning down Bruce kissed her neck softly, fire coursed through her body. And she shivered again, only this time Bruce mistook it for being cold. Calming the growing problem in his pants he pulled back slightly, Rachel moved with him, her tiny frame clinging to the suit. Bruce kissed the top of her head "Come on, Alfred is probably worried, we'll get showered and changed and we'll continue this discussion."

He heard her muffle a laugh in his shoulder blade. Opening the door to the beast of a car Bruce lifted Rachel into the passenger seat, before sliding in beside her. Rachel scooted closer to him. Her hand resting on his leg absentmindedly, her index finger drawing small circles.

Bruce bit his lip. She was oblivious to the effects it had on him, sucking up a breath he crashed through the container doors. Rachel fell asleep as he drove, her head resting on his shoulder, her hand slid higher and Bruce inhaled sharply.

He woke her as he lifted her out of the tumbler. She smiled up at him, snuggling closer to his chest.

"Master Wayne! Master Wayne!"

Rachel smiled sleepily as she heard Alfred running over to them. Her eyes drooped. "It's all right Alfred, everything is fine, just like she said."

"I told you so." Rachel grunted.

Both men laughed.

"True." She heard Bruce say before she fell asleep.

A few minutes later Bruce stirred her from her sleep. "Rachel?"

"Mmm?"

"You need to get out of these wet clothes."

"I know." She didn't budge.

"Rachel?"

"Mmm?"

"Please?"

Lifting her head Rachel hauled open her eyes and yawned, she was still in Bruce's arms, but they were in his bedroom. Setting her down he handed her a pair of his sweats and a t-shirt. Rachel peeled the wet clothes from her body, not caring that Bruce was standing beside her and pulled on his over sized clothes. He handed her a hair tie and she pulled her blonde hair back into a messy plait, her side fringe fell into her grey eyes.

Bruce pulled off the suit and tugged on pyjama bottoms, leaving his muscular chest exposed.

"Do you want me to take you back to your room?" he asked quietly.

Rachel frowned, and taking an unsteady step towards him she wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head on his chest.

Bruce grinned. Picking her up again he lay her down on the bed and climbed in beside her, pulling the sheets over them both. Rachel rolled over and tucked her head in under his arm. Bruce smiled, he made to say something but from the sound of her breathing she was already asleep. It wasn't long before he followed her.

*********

_Mew? Lemme know O.o_


End file.
